Started redesigning my birdem designs, but ended up making a really cute bird grumbo family

origins dnd au for @tea-with-veth (details under cut)

here's my gift for @mcytblraufest!! settled on a fantasy/dnd au to work in found family (and also because i noticed you like critical role). there's a bit of a hug, as requested, and context is ranboo's being brought in as a new party member.

some brief character descriptions (which can be taken with a grain of salt, especially regarding alignment):

Philza: Aarakocra Cleric (based on a golden eagle, death domain). serves Kristin (minor goddess of death). allowed to kill and maim a little, as a treat. lawful evil.

Technoblade: Harengon Barbarian (path of the beast). Chat gifted him the ability to adopt boar characteristics when he rages. easily bribed with carrots. chaotic neutral.

Tubbo: Fairy Artificer (insectile legs. artillerist). makes probably too many explosions. not to be trusted alone near mountains. chaotic neutral.

Ranboo: Aasimar Wizard (school of conjuration). idolisation from his community made him a bit of a prick with a superiority complex. kicked out of school. true neutral.

Tommy: Kenku Rogue (based on a caramel crow. scout). uses mimicry solely for comedic potential. admires rangers and their connection to animals. chaotic good.

Jack Manifold: Fire Genasi Bard (college of satire). runs, bartends, and performs for the Pube all at once. generally nice, but fuck around with his property and you WILL find out. neutral good.

Our agent of chaos, Chatter the rogue kenku who definitely hasn't at least at a looksy in your personal belongings.

splatoon dnd was so fun I love imagining characters playing dnd <33333

HI IM BACK i was writing more questions and saw something shiny and got horribly distracted. BUT Since SoA is DnD Based, ARE THE OTHER animatronics gonna be involved? If so, would they be just their normal selves (more forged but animal themed?) Or would you play off other creatures in the universe (werebear freddy, dragon/kobold monty, GNOLL ROXY? oh shit Gnoll Roxy i might do something for that.... I could also see cocatrice Chica, or arakokra? OR... uh... Heck what are the crows. WHAT ARE THE CROWS. I CANT REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE oh no brain come on, my brain just keeps screaming Kiri thanks critical role)

Yep! The other animatronics are involved in this as other forged beings (still coming up with a word because I don't want to use the warforged term from Eberron lmao). I haven't designed them yet, because I've never drawn the other animatronics before and might be a bit nervous. So that's the only reason I haven't brought them up yet I think.

I think I mentioned this on insta, but maybe not here?? But one of the big plot lines, and the reason that Moon was separated from Sun for a bit, was because he was looking into the disappearance of some of them.

Not usually posting about my TTRPG-Exploits on here, but my dearly beloved Crow-Person Plague Doctor just had a Nat 20 on his last Death Saving Throw and I think I never before experienced such a Level of Relief during Roleplay

You know though despite being how I am, I've never actually played a tiefling in dnd

Instead, I have played several furries. Which I think exhibits How I Am pretty well, actually

thank you @pixelateddork Im so happy to have included you C:

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Original Work, The Dice Chronicles Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Original Aarakocra Character(s) & Original Kenku Character(s), Original Halfling Character(s) & Original Kenku Character(s) Characters: Original Kenku Character(s), Original Halfling Character(s), Original Aarakocra Character(s), Nikola Breaker, Ranin Riverdream, Saleek Longwing Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gross, Crop Milk, Gross TW, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Animal Crossing References, Alternate Universe - College/University, College, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Modern Era, Crack Series: Part 1 of The Dice Chronicles Summary:

A Halfling who just pulled an all-nighter stumbles into a coffee shop for a drink, only to have his drink spiked with something gross. Little did he know, that was the only thing available. (Don't worry, it isn't as bad as you think!)

A Halfling college student stumbles into a coffee shop, holding a large stack of books that someone his size has no business of carrying without encumbering themself. A Kenku can be seen counting the cash in the cash register, recording the number of goods the shop has in stock, along with other things. She notices the student stumble in with his books. Before she asked if he needed any help, he plunked the books onto a table, sighing in relief while doing so. Because the books were out of the way, she could make out who he was. He's a Halfling, with fairly dark skin and puffy, dark brown hair, tied into a loose ponytail. He has four-leaf clover markings on his cheeks. He's growing a light mustache, but it's a sad excuse of one. He's wearing a dark-green long-sleeved shirt with light green accents. Over the shirt, he wears a light green vest, with cream accents. He's wearing puffy khakis and some brown sneakers. He has a blank look on his face. The Kenku greeted him with the lines that her boss told her to say, in their voice, "Hello, what can I get for you today?" The Halfling raised his eyebrows in alarm at the Kenku's voice, but he decided not to question it further. He responded, "I'd like a medium cafe espresso frappuccino, with extra milk." The Kenku scribbled the order down onto a notepad, muttering the order over and over again, in the same tired voice that the Halfling spoke in when he made his order. "To confirm, your order is," the Kenku began before speaking the Halfling's order in his voice, "a medium cafe espresso frappuccino, with extra milk. What is the name you would like us to call you by?" The Halfling looked around the coffee shop; all of the tables were empty, and he seemed to be the only customer. He didn't see the point in giving his name. But to be polite, he gave it anyway, "Name's Ranin Riverdream." The Kenku spoke in many fragments of Ranin's voice, her boss' voice, her coworkers' voices, and some other voices, as she responded, "All right, Ranin, sit tight, and we'll get your order ready for you. I'm Nikola, and I'll make your order!" Ranin sat at the table where he placed his books and stood on his chair to take the highest book from the stack. As he reached for the top stack, his chest slightly knocked into the stack, which caused the stack to wobble. Ranin quickly stopped the stack with his hand and sat back down. Ranin is majoring in creative writing, so he wishes to gain insight into his stories by reading all of these books. He opens up the book in his hand and begins to read. He had a hard time keeping his eyes open; they fluttered as he tried to read. He wiped his eyes and kept reading. He really needs that coffee. Before walking into the kitchen, Nikola looks over her shoulder, and asks, "Are you allergic to anything?" "Nope." Nikola walks into the kitchen, in order to prepare Ranin's order. She's lucky that he's the only customer at the moment; she's the only worker in the shop! While she brews some expresso, she gets out a medium-sized cup and fills it with ice. She takes out a sticker with Ranin's order and sticks it to the cup. Once the espresso is ready, she pours a shot of it into Ranin's drink. The espresso makes a slight hissing sound as it melts some of the ice in the drink. She then goes into the refrigerator to get some milk, only to find out that all of the milk is gone! She checks the back of the shop and finds that there's no more milk. She looks for vegan alternatives and finds out that their stock is empty. She thinks back to the day before, where the store was experiencing its rush hour; they used up all of the milk, and no one remembered to get more! She peeked out of the kitchen, and realized that more customers were walking into the shop; she didn't have anything that she could give them right away! It was then, she got an idea, a gross one at that. She thought back to the days when she was a baby chick, and money was tight. On particularly bad days, her mom would eat some food, and regurgitate it into her beak. It's what humans call crop milk. She was able to stomach it, but she doesn't think that Ranin would take it that well. Oh well, it was worth a shot (Please don't try this at your own workplace). She dug into her apron and got a packet of salted sunflower seeds. She ate all of the seeds and washed her feathery hands afterward. At last, she looked up at the ceiling, she made a lurching noise and guzzled out a sticky white substance, which still had remains of sunflower seeds. She quickly stirred the drink and finished it off with some frappuccino syrup to cover up any questionable taste. She put the lid onto the cup and practically ran out of the kitchen (Again, don't try this). She then shouted, alarming all of the customers, "Ranin Riverdream, your order is ready!" Ranin wiped his eyes and trudged over to the barista. He received his drink and gave his payment. He then walked over to his seat and slurped the contents. From the looks of it, he didn't seem to notice the crop milk substitution. Nikola wanted to see his reaction to the drink, but her next customer was trying to get her attention. Her coworker and lifelong friend then walked in, a tall, toucan-like Aarakocra named Saleek. "Sorry I'm late!" he apologized as he nudged into Nikola's spot, and handed her a grocery bag filled with dairy products. "You can take care of the orders now! I hope that it wasn't too stressful for you!" "Ah, it's fine," Nikola responded as she headed into the kitchen, occupied with the bags of milk. As she put the milk into the fridge, she caught a slightly opened cupboard at the corner of her eye. She opened up the cupboard, and she found a whole box of powdered milk. D*mmit, she could've used that instead. Meanwhile, Ranin was drinking his cup while reading his book. He put his book down when he noticed something strange...his drink tastes...kinda lumpy; he could also taste a hint of salted sunflower seeds. The drink also smelt kinda strange; it wasn't a bad smell, but he couldn't make out where it was coming from. He figured it was best not to question it; after all, he was feeling more energized after the drink. It became even more confusing when he looked at the bottom of the cup and found that sunflower seeds had sunken to the bottom. He didn't recall ordering seeds and assumed that the cafe was trying out some bizarre vegan milk substitute thingy. He threw his cup out, left ten copper pieces in the tip box, and hoisted up his books. He teetered out of the understaffed coffee shop, not thinking much about what was added to his drink.

"I am never doing that again," Nikola thought to herself as she slumped on the counter.

omgomgomgomg please tell me more about the batfam dnd au. whos what class? whos each race (i can only guess half) what are their backstories....

I dont have everyone's backstory (nor do I have a firm grasp on DND yet) but this is what I have so far Tim- DM Bruce- Human Paladin Dick- Tiefling Bard Babs- Dragonborn Artificer Jason- Halforc Rouge (Turned halforc fighter) Cass- Kenku Rouge Steph-Halfling Barbarian Duke- Elf Sorcerer Damian-Dragonborn Druid

Dick's character, Robin, stays pretty close to his childhood. Robin was raised in the circus with her parents being musicians. She trained herself on the trumpet, tuba and french horn. Following in her parent's footsteps she wanders the world trying to bring joy to others through her music. Eventually turning to her wanting to learn to be the best gymnast and to entertain kings and royalty. Babs and Duke are both royalty however in two very different environments. Duke was born to the forest and has an innate ability to control and command fireflies. This left him with the in charge of their light source and acted as a guide to those visiting. This left him with the title "Solar Guide". Babs however is the in a kingdom of machinery and advancements. Born with a tinkerer's mind she visited Duke's kingdom to explore how to combine both machinery, magic and nature. As well as to broker a deal between the two of them.

Damian's character, The Inevitable, was once a powerful druid. They were so strong in fact that they were once the final boss of a prior hypothetical campaign. However once the heros of the campaign defeated them they cursed him to never retain his memories, seen with the mask chained to his face. So all the spells and abilities he once had are no longer in his head. He is able to piece together that he was a druid due to the plethora of animals in his domain. They specialized in rot and decay with a motif of mushrooms. His main goal is to break the mask and gain back all the information lost to him over the past hundred years.

....Birdem....

My gift for @grimalkinsquill - it's a DnD AU featuring characters from xir fic oSaW (read here)!

Nino - dwarf fighter

Felix/Faustus - kenku rogue

Luka - tiefling ocean paladin/bardadin

Mars - half-elf paladin

The Voices in the Slay The Princess D&D AU:

The Voices are the so-called worshipers of The Narrator and are, in the eyes of the Vessels, the villains that they need to defeat. In reality, however, they are their own party, and are under the assumption that the Vessels are the ones they need to take down. As the story goes on, the Voices slowly realize that they are being tricked, and they'll have to work with the Vessels in order to defeat The Narrator for once and for all, restoring choice and free will and reuniting the creators of the world.

The Hero is an aarakocra Oath of the Ancients paladin, and is the unofficial leader of the group. He was tasked with bringing the Voices together, and while the allure of a quest is hard to resist, he's hesitant to fully believe The Narrator, even as the god assures him that sacrificing the Vessels is the only way to save the world. Still, he's forbidden from interacting with the Vessels himself, leaving that job to his fellow adventurers...

The Broken is a kenku Light Domain cleric, and is a loyal and unwavering servant of The Apotheosis. He was raised in the church all his life, and has instilled in him a strong belief that he will always be lesser. He considers it his duty to always serve, and to obey without question... though, his lack of a spine makes it very easy for him to surrender in fights, hence why his encounter with The Tower left him with a ton of broken bones and her barely scathed. He's an excellent healer, though.

The Stubborn is a red dragonborn Path of the Totem Warrior barbarian, and was a famed prizefighter before he wound up going too far and accidentally murdered his opponent. Undeterred, he continues to search for a good fight, and he leapt at the chance to be the one to take down The Adversary herself. His dream is to one day become a champion of The Eye of the Needle, a great honor among dragonborn.

The Cold is a drow Shadow Magic sorcerer and an Assassin rogue, who views the world through a dull lens of nihilism and only cares about getting his next job. However, he can become so focused on the job at hand that he loses sight of the reason why he's doing it to begin with, which is why he killed The Spectre instead of taking her prisoner---hey, she was going to die anyway, why not get the job done quicker? He doesn't even care that he nearly ruined everything, and when they discover she came back as a ghost... that's lucky, at least.

The Paranoid is a human Biomancer artificer, who would be a well-known and renowned scientist if he wasn't an anxiety-ridden recluse. This partially stems from the fact that someone close to him stole his research and passed it off to someone else, and when he became unsuccessful in discovering who it was, he shut everyone out and resigned himself to a life spent alone, sleeping with one eye open. While he's growing closer with his new companions, The Nightmare haunts his dreams ever since he tried and failed to stake her through the heart---and he doesn't think that The Narrator can be trusted...

The Opportunist is a tiefling College of Eloquence bard and a Mastermind rogue, and is a very accomplished grifter who can swindle, charm, and flirt his way out of any situation. After a job went wrong and he lost all of the fortune he'd gained, however, he became desperate for a new fix---and he got it in the form of The Narrator's task. Bad luck that he wound up trying to catch the girl who was the hardest to fool, but he's never met a person who he couldn't charm.

The Skeptic is a warforged Inquisitor rogue and a Gunslinger fighter, and is a well-known detective who lives off of one thing and one thing only: to uncover truth. Needless to say, he doesn't trust The Narrator at all, but he can't resist the allure of a mystery that needs to be solved---and after The Prisoner evaded him so skillfully, he's all the more intrigued. He's not easily fooled, after all, and there's definitely more to this than their mysterious benefactor is letting on...

The Smitten is a half-elf College of Valor bard and the second son of a lord, which means that he got all the privilege, prestige, and pompous attitude of a noble with none of the responsibilities. He is, however, desperate to be known for anything other than his heritage, so when he's given the chance to go on an epic quest, he gladly takes it---until he realizes that his quest involves capturing and sacrificing the most beautiful maiden he has ever seen. Undeterred, he rides with his newfound companions in hopes of steering their quest in a new direction.

The Hunted is a harengon Gloomstalker ranger and a Beast warlock, who made a pact with The Den long ago so he could never be her prey. He travels with The Smitten due to The Narrator knowing full well that he could never complete his task alone... and also because, well, Smitty's target has a big fucking panther guarding her. He's one of the most street-smart members of the party, even though his nerves tend to rival those of Paranoid.

The Cheated is a goblin Way of Long Death monk, who in his youth was given the ability to be able to survive just about anything. Unfortunately, he soon discovered that that so-called "blessing" was a curse, as it led to him constantly getting thrown into horrible situations due to him probably being able to make it out unscathed. He's pretty bitter and irritated most of the time, and he has zero patience for anyone's bullshit. Needless to say, he's not happy that he got saddled with trying to take down Miss Knife Clown.

And last but certainly not least, The Contrarian is an owlin Wild Magic sorcerer, a traveling jester who cheerfully wanders the world looking to spread happiness and a little bit of chaos. He's only doing this because he's a good friend of Hero's, and he thinks that The Narrator's full of shit. Of course, his experience with The Stranger was, well, not what he expected, what with them not remembering who they were and immediately shifting back and forth into forms that they thought would scare him off... so, he's a little bit confused as to what to do next.

That's all I got for now... uh, send me asks if you wanna know more? I have thoughts!

D&D Coroika Au : Blue Team and Rider

So here they are , the main event of chaotic blue team , plus the paladin they drag along.

Goggles - Kobold Rogue ( Arcane Trickster Subclass )

The most chaotic member of Blue team by far, Goggles was initially reluctantly exiled from his pack of kobold due to his often disruptive antics going on for far too long. He has a surprising sense of humor for a kobold , often using his talents as a rogue to sneak up on others and mess around with them, though he can just as easily use the dagger he carries around. His party has taken on the role of his new " pack " and he makes sure to remind them of this, with Bobble being the one he is closest with. His goggles actually have a practical purpose ever since his exile given how sensitive kobold eyes are to the sun.

Bobble - Kenku Bard ( College of Valour )

Bobble is the living opposite of the typical perception of kenku, having no ill will towards anybody unless they do something truly terrible to those she cares about. This makes her different then most kenku since they typically only make commitments to preserving their own lives. She often breaks into song with the drums she carries on hand and her ability to mimic the voices of others, with Goggles joining in to create quite the cacophony. Her presence adds some noise to this party that one will not forget for a long, long time.

Headphones - Half-Elf Ranger ( Gloomstalker Subclass )

Headphones is a progidy with a bow and arrow, and a childhood friend of specs. She takes on a more protective role of the party, ready to let an arrow fly right at any potential ambush should the time come. Headphones is often annoyed by the antics of Goggles but things get quickly resolved with the unusual kobold, he's even taught her how to use smaller close ranged armaments in case she was ever cornered in a close range brawl. Given how half elves live in two worlds given their heritage, Headphones finds comfort in her found second family of eccentric folks.

Specs - Human Cleric of Mystra

As a cleric of Mystra, Specs often finds himself seeking out new knowledge of magic which leads him on his many travels with his childhood friend Headphones. These travels would eventually lead him to end up adding Bobble and Goggles to their ranks, forming what is practically a second family. Specs often carries around multiple scrolls so he can study and utilize various spells, along with various remedies in case his magic is ever depleted. He's often the planner of the party when it comes to making decisions, though these plans are usually disrupted by Goggles leading to plenty of improvisation.

Rider - Human Paladin of Bahamut

Formerly a lone wandering paladin only accompanied by his trusty Warhammer, a kobold related misunderstanding followed by an impromptu team up led to Rider being dragged along the travels by this merry band of adventurers. Given his worship of Bahamut he is rather knowledgeable of all manners of draconic creatures , though this still couldn't have prepared him for anything like Goggles. While he was rather cold with the party at first, a mutual respect was slowly formed and Rider slipped into a role as the protector of the group with his shield and hammer in hand. He may not admit it but after a while of traveling Goggles has said he's seen the paladin crack a few smiles here and there.

So here's the main party, let me know what characters you all may wanna see next in the au. If you want to make some fanart of my au then I'm cool with it , I haven't even got down definitive designs for most of the cast.

The Fascinating/Frustrating World of...Bird...People...?

(Pre-warning: Don't get too excited for this to become a Thing. One, my motivation is non-existant right now, two, trauma that we're not getting into is keeping me from indulging in the idea, but, it's a recent idea that I think is so interesting I really wanted to share it in case somebody else would like to pick it up.)

The concept behind avians (bird people) is both really neat, and really...weird? And for that reason also frustrating to navigate, which is one of the reasons I personally do not indulge in it.

...well, usually at least. But today I have a neat idea I was given in the early morning of dreaming, and I really want to do something with it before it gets lost in the ether again.

Bird people, except...

smol.

Very smol.

Small enough they'd be akin to either their original bird origins (whatever specimens those may be) or closer in scale to that of modern-day depictions of fairies. To the latter, I point towards Disney's Tinkerbell series from the early 2010s as a concept of both size and relative way of living.

The main reason that a fairy-sized flock of tiny bird people interests me is, of course as always, because I can slap Planes characters onto it and call it an AU for funsies. Not only does that open the floodgates of "these aircraft are now human but still capable of flight without additional machinery", but it also gives room to retro-fit bird species onto characters in ways that might not have been done before.

And by that, I exclusively mean I get to turn Blade into a goddamn hummingbird.

And THAT is the sole reason I wanted to share this fucking concept. Not just fun bird people, not just silly AU material, no. I get to turn Blade into the only type of bird he would actually fit the bill of REALLY fucking well. Helicopter? Hummingbird. Do you SEE my genius here???

Even BETTER, too, there's a species of hummingbird called the Allen's Hummingbird which has a very rust-colored plumage, and LIVES along the coastlines of CALIFORNIA. Coincidence, I think not! It was fucking meant to be!

Okay but that really neat idea aside, there's of course a whole lot of...ahem, *complications* in creating any sort of Avian universe, be it for these specific purposes, or just any in general. Anyone else dabbling in the matter probably knows what I'm talking about, because while there are like, sub-categories of mythology and style design of "bird people", there's honestly no ONE single universal style of them that fits the idea. It's actually a very wide net you cast when you just say "bird people".

Basically, it's a very large spectrum of "how BIRD do you want your hybrid birds to BE?"

(And that answer in your universe is kind of like, really important for setting the groundwork and worldbuilding for, y'know...everything else.)

And that spectrum's two major ends would be the D&D style Kenkus and other such builds that are ALL BIRD - in head and limbs and feathery bodies aplenty - versus the almost completely human characters that just happen to have wings on their backs, usually REALLY big ones because, y'know. People are heavy.

Somewhere in the middle, you might have your two types of hybrids, the people that can turn into birds or all-bird bird "people", and the ones that are "mosty" human with wings and a fair assortment of bird qualities, including but not limited to talons for feet, extra plumage tufts around their bodies, and/or tail feathers.

The latter is kinda where I - and to be fair I think a lot of people - lean, mainly because it's the most human-functional non-human combination. Not to mention it has the most creative freedom as far as deciding how many facets of bird qualities you want on your species.

Like a weird build your own pizza! but...birds...

Anyways yeah, so IF (and that is a REALLY big IF) I make an AU kinda-sorta in that range, I have no idea where I'd want to go as far as those specific customization options. For sure we'd go the route of separated hands/arms and wings, because functionally that is wayyyyy easier than a creature whose wings ARE their hands/arms, but aside from that, mmm...I haven't got anything I've seen yet that I really like or gotta have.

The concept of bird legs for an Avian is tempting, but also really...odd?? Like, it would be easier for them to land in tree branches for sure, given how a bird's foot works, but it also makes simpler human-y things like chairs a bit more of a challenge, especially if their knees bend forwards like birds do and not backwards like we the homosapiens have.

There's also plumage coverage, and that's one of those "I really want to do it this way but would I need to explain that?" because especially in the case of hummingbirds, their iridescent throats are super vital to their species, so there might have to be SOME type of feathering around character's necks/chests/backs to help convey that properly.

I unno, it's all very loose and subjective at the moment, like I said the chances of me making this a thing are slim to none, BUT, for the sake of my desire for Blade, I might do JUST hummingbird Blade, and toy with that idea as a standalone for a while. If anyone else has other cool ideas for something like this, or they wanna take the idea and run with it, absolutely go for it man, my motivation pool is so dry I am literally giving away my muse's shit like it's a yard sale right now. Half-off, come and get it while it's here.

I might be back with Bird Blade soon, but other than that yeah that's an idea. Buh-byeee

im a roleplayer and ur western au inspired me to make an rp with the same concept and i wanna thank u for that inspiration, my story is a lot different than urs im pretty sure but i wouldnt have had the idea if i didnt see ur art

I DIG THAT! I'm a roleplayer too and i'm really happy my fic inspired you so much that you wanna rp in the same setting! I'm currently in a dnd campaign where i play as a kenku, honestly, can't wait for some sick accident to happen so i can create a centaur cowboy hahah (i'm joking, but kinda not)